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BOUQUET ESTATE - MID AFTERNOON
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Narrator: Having spent the first half of the day toiling away in her lab as has become routine at this point, Teis removes her lab coat and locks up for the day. She's left in plain blue t-shirt and dress pants as she strolls across the estate's grounds, a freshly filled mana crystal in hand - One with a black whispy energy within. Gareth's. And Elizabeth's, contained somewhere in those strands.
Teis pauses in front of the doors to the estate, underneath the vine covered, flowering balcony of hers since Tarbin's lessons in nature magic. She looks at the crystal intently, watching the tendrils harshly dance in contrast to the sun shining through it. She holds the crystal close to her chest, beginning to channel crystal's power, absorbing it. Just a taste, nothing more, for science. . . Right?
Rondelethia would come to the balcony, and knock softly on the door out. She could see that Teis was in the middle of something, and didn't want to disturb her, just...let her know that there's someone there. Once she's done that, she'd wait for Teis to look up, for she continued on saying anything, or making a greeting.
Teis: As if caught with her hand in the cookie jar, Teis jars back to reality with the soft knock, ending her communion with the crystal. She places the crystal down abruptly, turning to smile nervously at Rondelethia. She totally wasn't absorbing Gareth/Elizabeth's potentially dark magic simply out of grief and lust. Nope. "H-Hello, Sis." Teis stammers.
Rondelethia: "Hey Teis" She looks to the crystal, considering it for a moment with a small frown. Clearly it was bad news. "I've got a bit of news. Something you're gonna want to keep to yourself, at least for now until I know how I'm going to deal with it more fully"
Teis does her best not to track Rondelethia's eyes to the crystal, though her own eyes twitch briefly towards it anyway. ". . .About Lady Catherine?" Teis instinctively questions out of nothing more than simple hope.
Rondelethia: "No" She shakes her head, and rather than beating around the bush "I'm pregnant" There's a pause "Calgwen's the father, obviously, but it does mean that we have to move up a few plans regarding the marriage, and matters like that"
Teis lets out a little sigh at first, then upon hearing the news, suddenly she seems to zone out. After a few seconds, her brow furrows, her ears flick, and her lips skew. ". . .Pregnant?" She repeats questioningly.
Rondelethia: "Yes" She replies "There was a rather unwise session sampling the selection of wines we acquired over the winter festivities"
Teis: Teis runs a paw across her mouth, visibly conflicted. With all the talk of being prim and proper, this is far from what she expected from Rondelethia. Teis had always wanted Rondelethia to break the mould, to live her life, but. . .Pregnancy? Teis opens her mouth a few times to speak, but nothing comes out.
Rondelethia: "The plan is to have the wedding soon. Make sure that I'm wearing a dress that doesn't..show much, and not mention it. It's not entirely uncommon for such things to happen, so there won't be much..well..scandal. Especially since we're so distant. Important thing here is to move quickly. Anyway! What is it that you're not telling me about that obviously malevolent crystal?"
Teis continues to listen, still conflicted. It isn't until Rondelethia mentions the crystal that she's prompted to snap into action. ". . .What, you're just going to gloss over it?" Teis replies. "You're not even in your twenties, Rondelethia! And-and. . ." She moves to push Rondelethia back inside, not only to be away from the crystal, but also because she figures being behind literal closed doors would be better than shouting it for all of Respite to hear from her balcony.
Rondelethia: "Well, it's not ideal, but I don't see a reason to get upset. I'm marrying Calgwen anyway. We're perfectly financially sound, and I love him. The only problem that I'm facing with is making sure that the marriage goes ahead smoothly. I'm an adult Teis. It's not like this wasn't going to be attempted in a year or two anyway. Frankly, the most surprising part of all this is we're compatible at all, but then again, there are legends of half-dragons all over the place" She muses, before looking back to Teis "We even have plenty of spare rooms"
Teis clenches and unclenches her paws repeatedly, scratching nervously at one of her shoulders. "N-no! I just. . .I care for you, and it's. . ." She stammers, frustratingly sighing. "I. . .I want to be happy for you. I should be, right? I just. . ." She turns away briefly, then back, "Just. . .What happens to the child after it's born? What happens to you?"
Teis: "Are you going to give up your business plans? Calgwen also? Are you just going to hire a nanny and forget about them?"
Rondelethia: "I'll probably take a step back for the first few months, yes, but after that, I'm pretty confident I can raise a kid, and run a business. Lots and lots of people do it. Myself and Calgwen have a pretty good system going at this stage that means neither of us are particularly overworked. It's probably going to be a bit hectic for a while, but I'm going to make it work. Have a little bit of faith in me, please"
Teis: "N-no. It's. . ." Teis gets frustrated at herself again. "I. . .It's not. . .Faith. I. . .You just. . .Remember all the kids in school. How many of them. . ." She digs her claws into her paws slightly, getting a little angry. "Just. . ." She sighs again, relaxing her paws. "This isn't like you. And. . .Rushing into Calgwen because of it. . .Are you sure you're ready?"
Rondelethia: "Well. I didn't exactly intend for this to happen, and I didn't rush into anything with Calgwen, it was an arranged marriage, but I'm happy, he's happy, and he's a good man. It's not like the kids in school, because I'm out of school, and I'm running a business. We're both mature adults" For the most part... "And we're, again, completely financially sound. The business is doing very well. Thank you for your work there, by the way, and it won't need that much work just to keep things ticking over. It's only a hugely time consuming job when I'm trying to actively grow the business"
Teis: And so many of the other parents of the little muffins in school probably thought also. She remembers having to stick up for Rondelethia. What if Rondelethia raises one of those monsters herself? What will life be in ten years? She can't stop this, nor does she feel like she'll be able to adequately get through to Rondelethia. For now, this isn't worth pursuing. She concedes with a sigh. "Thank you. . ." Teis weakly smiles at the validation of her work. "I'm. . .Sorry." She manages, "Thank you for telling me. I'm happy for you."
Rondelethia chuckles "It's not like I could keep it a secret for long anyway" She pauses "So, back to the crystal"
Teis: Muffin dammit. "Some of Gareth's magic. With Lady Catherine gone. . ." Teis pauses, taking in a deep breath and sighing. "There's no need to extract her magic from them anymore. . .I just want to make sure that leaving her latent magic in him or the elementals won't cause any issues in the future."
Rondelethia: "And that was why you were handling the crystal away from the lab?" She raises an eyebrow skeptically
Teis: "It doesn't need containment. . .And as a personal project, I wanted to investigate it outside of work hours." Teis replies.
Rondelethia: "Wasn't Elizabeth's magic notably unstable? It's caused quite a bit of trouble around town"
Teis: "She lost it all attempting to power the town's generator when it blew out. As you'll recall, that's why we had to delay our move out here. . ." Teis replies, "After that, it manifested in Gareth. . .And the two elementals. One of which you'll remember I helped Tarbin with. With Lady Catherine gone, I feel responsible for her magic. Plus. . .Gareth was kind to me, as Tarbin was. I at least owe it to the two of them."
Rondelethia: "I appreciate that, but that doesn't explain why you're not doing the investigations in the lab, with all your tools. The lab doesn't exactly close"
Teis: "This isn't something I need tools for. . .I just need some time with the magic personally. To feel out where Gareth's magic ends and where Lady Catherine's begins."
Rondelethia: "And that's all?"
Teis nods. "That's all. Me, a room, it. . .And some quiet meditation. Tarbin's teachings in feeling out nature. . .It applies to more than that. It applies to all magic. Pretty soon. . ." She looks to her lesser mana lenses on the desk behind Rondelethia. ". . .I may not even need those." She nods to them.
Rondelethia: "Well, if you're sure. I'll trust you on this one" She sighs "Well, thanks for the talk, and the concern, now" She puts her hands together "If you excuse me, I have a wedding to plan" She turns to leave, humming pleasently to herself
Teis nods once more. "Fair enough. Bye, Sis. Love you." She smiles.